Egypt's military clashes with protesters in Cairo

Egyptian protesters use a metal sheet as a shield as they throw rocks at military police, unseen, behind the gates and inside the Parliament building near Cairo's Tahrir Square, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. Activists say the clashes began after soldiers severely beat a young man who was part of a sit-in outside the Cabinet building. Arabic writing at top reads " Democracy is the guarantee power to people ".

CAIRO — Egyptian soldiers are clashing with protesters in central Cairo for a second consecutive day.

Hundreds of protesters threw stones early Saturday at security forces that have sealed off the streets around the country's parliament building with barbed wire.

The violence erupted a day earlier after soldiers stormed an antimilitary protest camp outside the Cabinet building near Tahrir Square, sparking clashes that left at least seven protesters dead.

The violence underlined simmering tensions between activists and security officers and threatened to ignite a new round of clashes after two peaceful days of voting in an election considered the freest and fairest vote in the country's' modern history.

The protesters are demanding the country's military rulers transfer power immediately to a civilian authority.